COURT PROCEEDINGS IN THE CIVIL LAWSUIT AGAINST
GAWKER MEDIA THAT WAS FILED BY HULK HOGAN HAVE BEGUN, AND SOME
OF THE TESTIMONY FILED IN THE DESPERATE CITIZENS ARE TELLING,
AND ONE THAT WAS RECORDED AND PLAYED DURING THE COURT
PROCEEDINGS INCLUDED THE FORMER EDITOR IN CHIEF OF GAWKER MEDIA.
BEFORE WE GET TO WHAT HE SAID AND WHY IT IS CONTROVERSIAL, I
SHOULD NOTE THAT GAWKER MEDIA IS BEING SUED BECAUSE THEY LEAKED ñ
THEY DID NOT LEAK, THEY PUBLISHED HULK HOGAN'S SEX TAPE
WITH HIS ESTRANGED FRIENDS WIFE.
I JUST WANT TO MENTION THAT HE GOT THE BLESSING OF HIS
ESTRANGED FRIEND, AND HIS ESTRANGED FRIEND FILMED THE
WHOLE SITUATION WITHOUT HIM KNOWING ABOUT IT, AND THEN IT
SOMEHOW GOT LEAK TO THE PRESS.
EVERYBODY IN THIS STORY IS A SCUMBAG, AND HULK HOGAN, WHO IN
THE PAST HAS USED THE N-WORD, IS THE LEAST BAD GUY IN THE STORY.
IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE HE IS THE VICTIM.
HIS.
FRIEND, BUBBA THE LOVE SPONGE, I'M A DISC JOCKEY, SAID HEY,
PLEASE FUCK MY WIFE, HE SAID THAT, AND THAT HE TAKEN
SECRETLY.
WHAT DID HE SAY TO HIS WIFE AFTERWARDS?
YOU CAN HEAR HIM AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TAPE ALLEGEDLY
SAYING TO YOUR THING, AND THEN AT THE END HE TELLS IS NOW
ESTRANGED WIFE, IF WE EVER NEED TO RETIRE, HERE IS OUR TICKET.
WHAT A DIRTBAG.
BACK IN 2012 WHEN THIS TAPE WAS ORIGINALLY LEAKED TO THE
PRESS, HULK HOGAN DUDE TO HIS FRIEND, BUBBA THE LOVE
SPONGE, WHO IS A RADIO PERSONALITY, AND APPARENTLY
LOST BECAUSE HE SUED ON COPYRIGHT ISSUES AND THE
JUDGE SAID THAT HE WAS NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT LAWS.
NOW HE IS SUING GAWKER BECAUSE THEY FEEL ñ
HE FEELS THAT THEY HAVE INVADED HIS PRIVACY, AND I FEEL HE
HAS A STRONG CASE AND GAWKER'S DEFENSE SEEMS SHAKY.
NOW LET'S GET TO THE FORMER EDITOR IN CHIEF.
IN A FORMER DEPOSITION ñ IN A FORMER RECORDED DEPOSITION,
HE TALKED ABOUT WHAT HIS BOUNDARIES ARE IN TERMS OF
PUBLISHING SEX TAPES INVOLVING CELEBRITIES.
THE LAWYER ASKS HIM, HOW YOUNG THEY HAVE TO BE?
BECAUSE HE SAYS IF THERE ARE KIDS INVOLVED HE WON'T
PUBLISH IT.
HE SAYS HOW YOUNG DO THEY HAVE TO BE, AND HE SAID FOR.
HE SAID IT SARCASTICALLY ñ
BUT THAT'S NOT ñ A DEPOSITION, WHEN YOU ARE
BEING SUED FOR $100 MILLION, IS NOT A TIME TO BE SARCASTIC.
IT IS NOT A FUNNY JOKE WHEN YOU HAVE RELEASED SOMEONE'S MOST
PRIVATE MOMENTS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, AND THEN YOU JOKE AROUND
ABOUT LIKE, I GUESS I RELEASE A
FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S SEX TAPE.
THAT DOESN'T PLAY WELL.
AND FOR THOSE OF YOU OUT THERE WHO THINK WHAT IS THE BIG
DEAL, HE IS A CELEBRITY?
IMAGINE IF IT WAS A FEMALE CELEBRITY, AND SOMEONE
TAPED HER HAVING SEX.
WELL WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WHEN SOMEBODY TAPED ERIN ANDREWS JUST
BEING NAKED.
WE HAVE OPENED THE FLOODGATES.
I'M VERY CURIOUS TO SEE HOW THIS CASE TURNS OUT, BUT IT IS
APPARENT HOW DO WE RESPECT ANYBODY'S PRIVACY ANYMORE
IN THIS COUNTRY.
YOU HAVE THE NSA AND OUR LEADERSHIP BASICALLY SPYING ON
US IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY, AND WE BASICALLY JUST
SAT BACK AND TOOK IT, AND NOW YOU HAVE CELEBRITIES HAVING
THEIR PRIVACY VIOLATED.
IF ANYONE IS STILL WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE, IT SHOULD NOT BE
LEAKED TO THE MEDIA LIKE THIS, I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE A
PUBLIC FIGURE OR A PRIVATE CITIZEN.
WAS PHOTOGRAPHIC NUMBER FOUR.
"IN ONE DEPOSITION FROM 2013,
HE WAS ASKED WHY HE PUBLISHED THE X-RATED VIDEO."
THIS IS THE EDITOR IN CHIEF.
HE ANSWERED, "BECAUSE I FOUND IT VERY AMUSING."
I DON'T KNOW IF HE WILL FIND IT VERY FUNNY WHEN HE GETS
SUED FOR $100 MILLION, BUT IT IS NOT LOCATED HIS MONEY.
THAT THEY ARE ARGUING THAT
SINCE HULK HOGAN IS A
PUBLIC FIGURE, THAT HAS SHARED INTIMATE DETAILS ABOUT HIS
PERSONAL LIFE IN A PUBLIC FORUM, THEN HE DOES NOT HAVE THE
SAME EXPECTATIONS OF PRIVACY AS A REGULAR PERSON WOULD.
HULK HOGAN'S RESPONSE TO THAT IS, WHEN I'M OUT IN PUBLIC I
PLAY A CHARACTER, THAT IS NOT ME, AND WHEN I'M IN PRIVATE I'M
IN PRIVATE, THAT IS MY LIFE AND I DON'T WANT THAT OUT IN THE
OPEN FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT.
BY THE WAY, HE WAS AT A LOW POINT IN HIS LIFE, HIS
MARRIAGE WAS FALLING APART, HE WAS FEELING TERRIBLE.
'S FRIEND TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HIM, THIS GOT LEAKED TO THE
PRESS, GAWKER TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION.
. WHAT HULK HOGAN SAID DURING THE COURT PROCEEDINGS.
"I WAS IN CHARACTER.
I EMBELLISHED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE NUMBER OF WOMEN.
I WAS TOTALLY HULK HOGAN ñ ñ I WAS NOT AT HOME IN MY PRIVATE
HOUSE."
HE SAYS HE EXAGGERATED ABOUT THE SIZE OF HIS PENIS ñ
NO, NOT DONALD TRUMP, HULK HOGAN ñ
AND THE NUMBER OF WOMEN HE SLEPT WITH.
GAWKER SAID THAT, IN YOUR REALITY SHOW YOU ARE
SITTING ON A TOILET IN OUR HOUSE, WE HAVE SEEN EVERY
PART OF YOUR LIFE, PRESERVING PRIVATE ANYMORE.
HIS ARGUMENT IS, THAT IS A CHARACTER I AM PLAYING.
IF YOU THINK, THAT IS KIND OF SKIVVY, I GOT THE SENSE
THAT IF I WATCH THE SHOW I WAS WATCHING THE REAL YOU.
WAKE UP, IT IS REALITY TV, IT IS NOT REAL.
SECOND OF ALL, IT IS HULK HOGAN, ALL HE DID WAS FAKE
WRESTLING HIS ENTIRE CAREER.
HE WASN'T REALLY GETTING BEAT UP?
HE DIDN'T REALLY DROP THE LEG ON ALL HIS OPPONENTS?
I VALUE PEOPLE'S PRIVACY.
YOU HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT, IF YOU WERE OUTRAGED ABOUT THE
CELEBRITY NUDES LEAK THAT HAPPENED ABOUT A YEAR AGO,
THEN YOU SHOULD BE EQUALLY OUTRAGED ABOUT THIS.
ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE IS NO NEWSWORTHINESS ABOUT THIS.
I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE NEWSWORTHINESS BECAUSE I
DON'T THINK IT IS RELEVANT TO THIS.
I GET THAT HE WAS AMUSED BY IT, I GET THAT PEOPLE WOULD
WATCH IT AND THAT IT WOULD DRUG USE, AND IF PEOPLE CARE
ABOUT IT THEN ALMOST BY DEFINITION IT IS NEWS.
WE ALL OBSESSED WITH THE SOAP OPERA OF THE CELEBRITIES'
LIVES THAT WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF.
EVERYTHING IS A SOAP OPERA, AND THAT IS NEWS TO US.
AND NOW IT MIGHT GET REAL BECAUSE ONE OF THOSE SOAP
OPERA ACTORS MIGHT BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
SO ALL OF THAT IS NEWS OF SOME SORT, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN
THAT YOU CAN VIOLATE HIS PRIVACY BECAUSE YOU VIEW IT AS NEWS.
THERE IS NO EXCEPTION FOR THAT, THAT IS NOT A LOT.
YOU ARE STILL INVADING HIS PRIVACY, IT IS STILL ATROCIOUS.
NONE OF YOU WOULD LIKE IT IF SOMEONE SECRETLY TAPED YOU
HAVING SEX AND THEN WE GET ON THE INTERNET, AND YOU WOULD
HAVE EVERY RIGHT IN THE WORLD TO SUE THEM AND HULK HOGAN
DOES AS WELL.